The Quest of Dai: The Eroe by Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris

Main Characters: Dai, Westly, Grandma, Spencer, Galen

Summary:

Diamond “Dai” Gold is an eighteen-year-old whose peaceful existence shatters when she awakens in a world straight from a fairy tale, instantly immersed in a desperate fight for her life. Her adventure continues as she discovers that not only is her past intertwined with this world, but that it is her destiny to save it from destruction and rule by a dangerous group known as the Malo.

In a world where deception and secrets run rampant, Dai must decide which side she can really trust. Armed only with the protection of a boy who seems to want to trade her life for the safety of his friends, Dai has many secrets to discover on her perilous journey to save this world, and herself in the process.

Anna’s Thoughts

This book is something else. Really. It reminds me a little bit of the show for Legend of the Seeker, not that it’s the same in it’s content, but the feeling is the same. The kingdoms and the overall feel of the book translates into the same general feeling of the show, and for this reason I am quite convinced that Sci-Fi (sorry, Syfy) should really pick it up for a show. It totally could work! I could watch it right after Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary!

I loved most of the characters, Dai was a little .. ermm.. over dramatic for my tastes? I understand completely that she wants to go home, and she wants to go back to her life, but if she’s stuck, she’s stuck. So it got a little grating how she snapped at people sometimes when they hadn’t really done anything. I was also mildly annoyed at how much she questions herself in the beginning of the book, and how she compared herself so much to Adele (her best friend). I really liked her otherwise, she was a very strong and smart character set in her ways and her personality. I loved seeing her grow throughout the book as well, where she stops comparing herself so much, and becomes somewhat confidant in herself and her abilities. I also liked Westly, and the dynamic him and Dai have although they’re both convinced the other hates them. They still try, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people nowadays. The side characters are interesting as well, I love Grandma and Galen, and most of all Spencer – I think he’s my favourite character by far, and I can’t wait for the possibility to get to know more about all of them.

As for the plot, it was a little shaky for me towards the end, but otherwise very fun and fast paced chalk full of knowledge. About half way through the book we meet someone named Connor, and Connor has something with him that is very important. All we ever learn about it though is that it’s a ‘pouch’, we don’t learn what is so important about the pouch, or why they end up risking their lives for it! We also don’t learn HOW Dai was brought to the alternate world. We learn that she HAS been, WHY, and WHAT she has to do, but there is no HOW. Which is maybe only important to me?! We learn that it’s her destiny, but I’d like to know why that day/time.. was it because she was in the cabin, in the right place, or would it have happened no matter where she was? If she had never entered the cabin would she had never been brought to the other world? Other than those two issues I really liked the world that we get to see, where ‘chivalry’ is a word that people actually know the meaning to, and where there’s more of a forest than there is of a highway. I also liked when we found out how what Dai is going through ties into her past, and her family. I really hope that we learn later on why it’s her family, and why it’s their mission to do this, and what happened to her grandma that made it okay for her to leave even though she obviously didn’t defeat the Malo.

The most impressive thing about the characters and it’s plot, other than Westly being the ‘bad boy’ is that there aren’t really a lot of cliche’s. And by ‘aren’t really a lot’ I mean I can’t think of any. At all. Which is always a plus when someone can come up with something unique enough they don’t have to use elements that have been used a hundred times before.

Overall I loved the plot, I loved the characters, I honestly love the world that Vivian managed to create, and I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

You can find out more about Vivian at her site: vivian-marie.com
You can also read the first two chapters of The Quest of Dai: The Eroe here.